vendredi 12 avril 2013

Why so little openness in the establishment of these Sikh schools?

Last month the local press reported that a Sikh free
school "remains on course to open in Hounslow in September":

but there
has been no reporting of the secrecy and subterfuge surrounding its
establishment.

Attendance at the only public meeting
about it in December was completely unrepresentative.

Wide-ranging
questions put to the organisers by the few non-Sikhs were not answered.
No offer was made to supply answers later. The local paper printed
nothing.

In February the Department for Education
alleged "wide support" for the school, but provided no evidence to
support the claim. I was advised to write to the "Nishkam Trust" (the
organisation behind the school), which responded: "Full demand figures
and collection methods are supplied through the formal application
process to the Department for Education for their assessment".

Another
Sikh Trust also intends to open a school this September, in Stoke Poges
(near Slough).

The local council discovered this only in January, from a
newspaper report, though the Trust had advertised on Southall railway
station, (hardly local), and in India, to demonstrate "demand".

Did Nishkam use similar techniques? Is that why they refuse to disclose what support they have?

After
the 2001 race riots, Home Secretary David Blunkett commissioned
Professor Ted Cantle to produce a report into the causes. In 2009 an updated version
expressed particular concern about schools being even "partly
segregated on religious grounds", observing that segregation can
perpetuate disadvantage, limiting choice and aspiration (becoming a
dangerous vicious circle).

Later in 2009 the think-tank Ekklesia summarised
an opinion poll by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission where 60%
of the population considered religion more socially divisive than race,
and another by YouGov, where 75% wanted all schools to teach a balanced
syllabus about a wide range of religious and non-religious beliefs.

Problems are becoming more acute. Imprisoning children in a limited
world of their own like-minded communities is a recipe for disaster.

He wrote:
"All public services need to reconfigure services across communities
and especially to avoid targeting and separating groups in the name of
cultural sensitivity ...Separate provision also completely undermines
opportunities to build shared purpose and to develop empathy and
understanding of others. Perhaps the most difficult of service areas is
education, where local authorities ... will need ... even to merge
segregated schools together".

If further evidence is required, an apparently honest and well-written book by two Sikhs, (Sikhs in Britain: the making of a community, 2006, Gurharpal Singh & Darshan Singh Tatla), paints an extremely damning picture of Sikh ethos.

Local
papers in Stoke Poges have printed much coverage: and the council, in
keen opposition, has organised a public meeting with the local MP.

Hounslow
Civic Centre, on the other hand, is meekly acceding to Nishkam's
demands, refusing even to consider a similar meeting here, to determine
public feeling about an issue on which consultation to date has been an
utter sham.

Nishkam also propose to open a school in Leeds in 2014. But Leeds Council learnt about this only when I approached them.

I am deeply concerned that Hounslow's proposed school is being rubber stamped with no meaningful public consultation; that the Trust is ignoring bona fide
public concerns; that Hounslow is refusing even to inform residents
what is happening and why; and that the Department for Education,
whatever their highly dubious role in this may be, are failing to ensure
that the process is being managed with even lip service to elementary
ethics. Democracy? Localism? Not a whiff!

Clearly
there are related problems in Stoke Poges and Leeds. How widespread is
this across the country? How many sectarian scandals are being
deliberately concealed from public view?

And how and when can we ensure
that local and national government take heed of Professor Cantle's
urgent recommendations to avert further segregation and violence?